7 h 53 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 7 h 53 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
In a world where manners rule, what happens when an old love refuses to stay in the past?
Lucile, known in society as the Countess de Nevers, has wit, charm, and a past she keeps private. Her life is tied to Lord Alfred Vargrave by an old attachment and lingering hurt. Around them, fashionable society in France and England makes its claims, and a careless word can do lasting harm.
Robert Bulwer-Lytton tells this romance in rhymed couplets, carrying you through drawing rooms and country houses with a lively, rolling rhythm. Matilda Darcy brings an open nature to this worldly company, while the proud Duke de Luvois and socially ambitious Lord Walter Vargrave add pressure. Love and loyalty meet pride, mistaken judgment, and the demands of rank.
What you’ll discover
- A woman with depth Meet Lucile, whose intelligence and generosity sit beside memories she does not readily share.
- The pull of old love Follow an attachment that binds Lucile and Alfred through old hurt and society’s claims.
- Drawing rooms under pressure Enter a polished social world where manners matter and careless words leave lasting wounds.
- A story carried by rhyme Let the rolling couplets draw you through a romance shaped like a novel.
- Room to pause Spend time with a long poem that pauses to comment on the world it portrays.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you like love stories with moral weight, rhymed storytelling to hear aloud, vivid mountain scenery, and characters who must choose between desire and duty.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- An old promise unsettles Alfred
- Jealousy exposes an uncertain heart
- Lucile overturns Alfred's expectations
- Passion borrows the language of honour
- A false impression deepens the breach
- Marriage has not buried the past
- Lucile sees the danger at home
- The verse moves with the feelings
- Promises reveal the meaning of care
Who’s who
- Lucile, Comtesse de NeversA brilliant half-Indian widow, loved in Paris and Baden, who hides an old wound and wants a love that does not ask her to shrink.
- Lord Alfred VargraveA charming, gifted English diplomat who starts many paths and finishes few, and who wants both his duty and his past.
- Matilda VargraveA fair, young heiress, first a bright, spoiled girl and then a wife who longs to be truly loved.
- Cousin JohnAlfred's blunt, loyal cousin, a bachelor who gives hard advice and stands by his friend when trouble comes.
- Eugene, Duc de LuvoisA rich Parisian leader of fashion whose pride and passion for Lucile drive him to jealousy and a hunger for purpose.
- Sir Ridley MacnabA rich, pious banker and Matilda's uncle, who talks of heaven while he tends his accounts.
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Lucile in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Lucile
by Robert Bulwer-Lytton · 1860
A countess asks an engaged lord to return her old love letters, and one mountain trip upends three lives.
Medium level2–5 hours to read20 languages
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“Regret is a spiteful old maid”
In short
What would you do if a letter from a woman you once loved arrived just as you were about to marry another? Lord Alfred Vargrave, staying in the Pyrenees in autumn, opens exactly such a note.
Lucile at a glance
- Reading time
- About 4 h 35 min3 h 40 min fast, 5 h 30 min slow
- Length
- 65,600 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1860by Robert Bulwer-Lytton
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A letter from an old love pulls Alfred away
The poem opens with a note from the Comtesse de Nevers, who signs herself Lucile. She has heard that Lord Alfred Vargrave plans to marry Miss Darcy. Years ago each promised to hand back the other's letters on request. She now asks him to keep that promise by coming to Luchon.
Alfred is at Bigorre with his betrothed Matilda, her mother and his cousin John. John calls Lucile a coquette setting a trap. He warns that Alfred risks money, position and a wealthy wife for a dream.
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Which edition is right for me
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Details
- First published
- 1860
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 5 h 5 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Bulwer-Lytton, Robert. Lucile. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/lucile.
Bulwer-Lytton, R. (2026). Lucile. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/lucile (Original work published 1860)
Bulwer-Lytton, Robert. Lucile. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/lucile.
@book{bulwerlytton2026lucile,
author = {Bulwer-Lytton, Robert},
title = {Lucile},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/lucile},
note = {First published 1860}
}
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What is Lucile by Owen Meredith about?
It is a verse romance about a countess, Lucile, and the Englishman Lord Alfred Vargrave, who once loved her and is engaged to Matilda. A French duke also wants Lucile, and their rivalry spans France and Germany.
Who is Owen Meredith?
Owen Meredith is the pen name of Edward Robert Bulwer Lytton, later Earl of Lytton, the son of the novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton. The dedication to his father is signed with that name.
Is Lucile a poem or a novel?
It is a novel told in verse, in two parts of six cantos each. The rhyming couplets carry dialogue, letters and description, so it reads like a story as well as a poem.
The author
Robert Bulwer-Lytton
1831–1891 · British poet and diplomat
Edward Robert Bulwer-Lytton (1831–1891) was a British author and diplomat who wrote under the name Owen Meredith. He was born in London and died in Paris. His verse novel Lucile appeared in 1860. He served as Viceroy of India from 1876 to 1880 and later as British ambassador to France.
“Regret is a spiteful old maid”
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